A busy night, Tuesday
27th - Wednesday 28th September
Even though this is the SW Monsoon season it is not uncommon
to get a strong westerly wind during the night. At 2.20am on
Wed 28th, strong wind from the West started blowing; given that the channel
between the two islands is orientated East-West, the wind and the waves came in
with full force.
We took in the laundry, checked the mooring and everything
else on deck.
Very soon the gusts reached 40 Knots; we turned the engine
on as a precaution in case the mooring rope broke; the fishing boat moored
around us did the same.
After a while the first fishing boat moored at the entrance
of the channel either broke the mooring or decided the position was untenable;
it suddenly turned on a big search light at the front and passed us by like a
freight train before disappearing down the channel.
Cara and I, lifejackets and headlights on, sat in the
cockpit waiting for the storm to pass; these are the moments when you go
through with relief in your head all the good preparation you made (like
doubling the mooring rope) and worry about the things you neglected (like
leaving the fuel tank on the tender).
Anyway the mooring held and by 3.30am the wind had dropped
to 15kn but with a big a swell that rocked the boat all night.
At a certain point I went on deck to check the tender one
more time and….surprise: as I flashed the torchlight in the water I saw two small
sharks swimming under Olivia. They looked a bit confused.
For a second I thought “If sharks are hunting maybe it’s a
good time to fish” but then I concluded that the night had been exciting enough.
Only when we woke up (after a mostly sleepless night) the
sea had finally calmed down and to our great surprise the two sharks were still
there!
They looked like a mother with a baby.
The mother was probably just over a metre long (“one Julia’s
length” we all agreed) while the baby maybe 70cm long; when we leaned over to
look at them they came forward and let us take pictures; then they swam back
under the hull;
they appeared be sheltering in the shadow of Olivia.
They stayed with us till after breakfast; then when school
started they went away leaving Anna to battle through Maths Class alone.
In the evening we had a wonderful time snorkeling, it is no
surprise that the ipad has yet to come out from it’s hiding place.
Enrico went in the dinghy to check out another mooring to
see if it would be calmer and while he was there, a turtle swam past.
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| Getting ready to fish! |
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